If you’ve read any of the posts here at Cora Evans blog, you know that there’s a great team of writers who contribute to this website year-round to provide you with excellent Catholic content. As we approach the end of 2019, we’ve rounded up the top ten most popular posts on the website. Take a look at the list below and see if one of your favorites is here or maybe you’ll find one you missed over the last year!

10. How the Virgin Mary’s Fiat is a Roadmap for the Christian Life

By Gillian Weyant

Mary’s complete surrender of her life to God shows us that we, even in the smallest respects, should always work to conform ourselves to the will of God.  Even as we encounter situations that may present us with great difficulties, we should always work to emulate Mary by repeating the words she spoke at the Annunciation: “Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”  She lived her life repeating this fiat, and ultimately her Assumption into heaven, body and soul, is a reflection of how meaningful this was.

9. Why Do Catholics Wear Ashes on Ash Wednesday?

By Fr. Michael Liliedahl

There is something primal that calls to us about Ash Wednesday. Something that goes beyond the curiosity of wearing a dab of ashes on our foreheads for the rest of the day. For the ashes are purposeful, they are purposefully ashes and not something else.  Why ashes and not something else? By looking at how ashes are used in the Old Testament we can begin to see how the practice of being signed with ashes perfectly ushers us into the season of Lent.

8. 5 Reasons You Should Go To Adoration (If You Don’t Already)

By Jeannie Ewing

It seems nearly impossible for many of us who are consumed with the daily drudgery of eat, work, shuffle around kids, eat, sleep, repeat. How can we carve out time for an hour of holy prayer before the True Body of Jesus when it’s difficult to even spend fifteen minutes daily to read our devotions or pray with Scripture? Please know that God takes our small efforts and does great things with what we give Him.

7. 9 of the Best Oscar Nominated Films about Catholicism

Hannah Crites

A fun review of films that are highly decorated by the academy and feature Catholicism and Christ as a central theme leading up to the event. Messages of faith are lacking in modern cinematography, but there was a day when writers and producers were unafraid to bring those messages to the big screen.

6. The Cardinal Virtues in the Lord of the Rings

Kenzie Worthing

Tolkien’s masterpiece is a rich depository of virtue and vice. Though all of the main characters demonstrate different virtues and weaknesses throughout the story, we will focus on how Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, and Frodo in Pre-Christian Middle Earth exemplify the human virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. Let us ponder these noble virtues in four excellent characters.

5. How to Pray the Rosary Everyday

Sara and Justin Kraft

One Advent, we were challenged by a holy priest we really respected to pray the rosary daily.  His exact words were, “The rosary is hard. Pray it anyway. All the saints prayed it. That’s why they are saints. I can’t tell you why it works. All I know is it does work. Pray it daily.”

4. 7 Important Lessons From St. John Bosco

John Kubasak

St. John was born in Turin, Italy in 1815 to a poor family, and lost his father at age two.  He was ordained a priest in 1841. Perhaps the tragedy of losing his father spurred him to the mission that he was best known for: reaching out to troubled youth.  The more proximate cause of ministering to troubled youth was seeing the squalid condition of the nearby prisons, in which children were incarcerated along with adults.

3. The Oldest Catholic Churches in America

Kimberly Timmerman

Our country has valued religion from its inception. A look back into history shows a rich Catholic contribution to our country’s values. While the Catholic Church in the United States has been zealous in Her missionary efforts, as our history shows, many of our beautiful churches have been destroyed. The countdown below shows the five oldest Catholic Churches in America the Continental United States that have stood strong amidst the destructive forces of war, natural disasters, and persecution.

2. Here is a Catholic Guide to Understanding Grief

Jeannie Ewing

When we hear or read the word “grief,” we almost always conjure up images of viewings, funerals, and death. In reality, grief is the comprehensive physiological, spiritual, and emotional response we have to any devastating loss in our lives. Maybe that’s why we don’t often recognize when grief affects us – because we don’t understand that death isn’t the only catalyst for launching us into it.

1. Take a Look At the Most Impressive Christian Sculptures of All Time

Hannah Crites

The Catholic Church has a rich history of commissioning world-renowned artists of the day to create beautiful works to decorate churches with the realities of the faith. From the 14th century to today, sculptures of Christ, the Blessed Mother, biblical figures and saints give us reason to pause and ponder the realities of the faith and the beauty of creation.